COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural India

Last registered on March 15, 2022

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural India

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0009098

Initial registration date

March 15, 2022

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

March 15, 2022, 8:08 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

India

Region

Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar

Primary Investigator

Name

Sneha Shashidhara

Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Shardul Vaidya

PI Affiliation

CSBC

PI Name

Selva Shwetha

PI Affiliation

CSBC

PI Name

Sharon Barnhardt

PI Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Pavan Mamidi

PI Affiliation

CSBC

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2022-03-23

End date

2022-05-15

Keywords

Behavior, Health

Additional Keywords

Vaccination, Covid-19, Hesitancy

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

We intend to conduct a large in-person survey in rural India to understand the determinants of vaccine hesitancy amongst a primarily unvaccinated sample. Our study will be conducted in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with an exclusive focus on data collection from rural areas. Our survey will empirically estimate demand for the vaccine, the determinants of this demand or the lack thereof, and hurdles due to supply-side issues. We will also collect information about knowledge related to COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines, adherence to COVID-19 protective measures, media consumption and demographics to serve as covariates in our analysis. In addition to the survey, we also intend to test behaviourally informed communications interventions that we hypothesise could improve vaccine agency amongst our sample. Our sample size will be about 6000 respondents and roughly representative of the rural population of each state.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Barnhardt, Sharon et al. 2022. "COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Rural India." AEA RCT Registry. March 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.9098-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Interventions

Intervention(s)

At the end of the survey, participants will watch short videos that target COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, hesitancy concerning getting their children vaccinated for COVID-19 and mask-wearing behaviour.

Intervention Start Date

2022-03-23

Intervention End Date

2022-05-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Intention to get vaccinated, Main barriers to vaccination, and Problems faced during vaccination

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We plan to conduct the survey using the proportional sampling method (based on the 2011 Census) in 20 districts of Uttar Pradesh and 12 districts of Bihar. Within these districts, eight villages will be randomly selected for data collection. Each of these villages is sampled entirely, ensuring proportionate sampling. Participants are first screened on vaccination status. All unvaccinated participants will proceed to the survey, and 10% of participants with one dose and 10% of participants with two doses will complete the survey.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

The recruitment of the participants for the survey does not include randomisation. All unvaccinated participants and 10% of participants with one dose and two vaccination doses pass the screening and complete the entire survey. For the Intervention videos, the participants are randomly assigned to one of 3 arms (vaccinated participants) or one of 7 arms (unvaccinated participants).

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

6000 individuals

Sample size: planned number of observations

6000 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

680 per treatment arm

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

We intend to recruit around 6,000 subjects for the study, which allows us to calculate sample estimates for vaccine hesitancy outcomes for the ~247 million rural population of UP and Bihar with a 99% confidence interval and margin of error of about 1.7%.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB